Sunday, November 20, 2016

Sunday, November 20, 2016

What the Beck???

Becky Cans Pickles

     Last summer, I took a canning class at Sur la Table in Naperville, for only one reason. Holly Van Tholen, the Mom of one of my previous students, sent in a jar of pickles with her wonderful son as a Christmas present. Now, I never liked pickles until I tasted one of her homemade bread and butter wonders. I was hooked!!!

    I was so blessed when Holly sent me her Great Grandmother’s recipe. So last week, I finally canned my first pickles. The recipe made 10 fabulous jars.

Here are the ingredients that I used to create 
the most fabulous pickles on the planet.

I began my washing and cleaning out the green peppers.

I cut them into thin strips.

On to the onions.

I thinly sliced them, too.

I put half of the green peppers, onions, garlic, canning 

salt, and pickles in this very large bowl,

and the other half in a strainer over a bowl and covered
both of them with ice.
I let it sit on the counter for 3 hours adding ice
if it melted too quickly.

Now, on to the brine. These are the ingredients 
that I used to create it.

I began by putting the sugar in a pot.

I added in the tumeric,

celery salt,

and mustard seed.

The final ingredient to add to the 
brine was the regular white vinegar.

This is what it looked like after the sugar had melted, 
and the ingredients were all stirred together.

I drained the water and ice and gently rinsed.
The jars had been sanitized and heated as were
the lids and rims. 
First, I added in the pickle mixture, and then
scooped in the brine, being careful not to touch
the lid of the jars.

Here are the jars. I waited until I heard
the 10 "pops" which proved that the canning
had actually worked.

The pickles are ready to go!!
I was so proud of myself because they
tasted just like Hollys!!!!
A giant thank you to Holly Van Tholen.